


Shush or Hush 2: Na-No Mercy

by RegularMagicalUnicorn



Category: Nanoquest, Shush or Hush
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 19:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19362583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegularMagicalUnicorn/pseuds/RegularMagicalUnicorn
Summary: When things get small, things get weird!





	Shush or Hush 2: Na-No Mercy

“And make it quick,” Juice Truck growled. “You never know when the city’s gonna need saving again.”

He had just brought the Juice Truck-mobile and the Juice Truck-copter to the mechanic, since they had incurred slight damage in his previous adventure.

“How did you even do this?” the mechanic asked, bewildered. The Juice Truck-mobile looked like it had been driven off a cliff, and the Juice Truck-copter was little more than a smoldering pile of parts.

“Well, you see…,” Juice Truck began to relay the events of his battle against China. He remembered it like it had been just yesterday, though actually, it was this morning.

“Alright, Mr. Truck,” the mechanic said once Juice Truck was finished. “I’ll… see what I can do.”

“Thanks.” Juice Truck smiled and gave a thumbs up, then slinked into the shadows and skulked out of the mechanic’s shop.

 

It was a bright and sunny day outside. Juice Truck squinted and put on his sunglasses. He needed to be able to see properly if he was going to protect the city from crime. You never quite knew where crime might strike next. It might strike from above, via plane, or from below, via some sort of elaborate tunnel system, or-

“Help! There’s been crime!” someone shouted.

Juice Truck ran to get into the Juice Truck-mobile, but it was still in the shop, so he had to go on foot. Luckily, the shouting person was just across the street, so it didn’t take long for Juice Truck to arrive at the scene of the crime. He spotted a woman standing outside.

“Are you the crime?” he asked.

“No, my name is Professor D’arcy,” she explained. “Crime is happening inside the Nanotechnology Research Center!” She pointed at the building behind her.

“I understand everything,” Juice Truck assured her. “Leave it all to me.” He kicked down the front doors (which were unlocked anyway) and stepped inside.

The lobby of the building was empty. Juice Truck knew that this was a common occurrence in crime-related scenarios. Following protocol, he located the most dangerous door - one with a radiation symbol and an “Authorized Personnel Only” sign - and kicked it open. Inside the room was a bald man in a suit, as well as various sciencey-looking devices.

“I’m presume you’re here to stop me,” the man said. “Well, you’re too late. I, Dr. O’Kelly, have already stolen the nano-secrets.” He held up a briefcase with “NANO” written on it.

“You fiend,” Juice Truck growled. He raised his gun. “Hand over the Nano and no one gets hurt.”

“Oh, of course.” Dr. O’Kelly reached out to hand Juice Truck the briefcase. “NOT!” he added suddenly, twisting his arm to hit Juice Truck with the briefcase.

Juice Truck stumbled to the side, through an opening in a machine labeled as the “Quantum Scaling Chamber”. Dr. O’Kelly slammed the door to the machine shut behind him.

“Good luck stopping me when you’re one nanometer tall,” Dr. O’Kelly laughed, activating the machine. A strange blue light enveloped the interior.

“I’ll get you for this,” Juice Truck shouted as he was shrunk down by the machine. Once the process finished, Juice Truck took stock of his surroundings. Bizarrely, the nano-world appeared to be made mostly of brightly colored hexagonal platforms. 

“This sucks,” Juice Truck decided. There was only one person who could help him now. He pulled out his phone and dialed.

“China, I need your help,” Juice Truck demanded.

“Juice Truck? How did you get this number?”

“Lucky guess. Also, aren’t you in jail?”

“They let me keep my phone. Speaking of which, you’re the reason I’m locked up in here! Why would I help you?”

“I donno.”

“Well, I’m convinced. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you at the Nanotechnology Research Center! Pronto!”

“I’ll be right there.” China’s voice moved away from the phone. “Alright boys, I’m heading out.”

China stopped speaking, but Juice Truck clearly recognized the sounds of a cell door being opened, walking down a hallway, another door being opened, walking down a sidewalk, waiting at a bus stop, getting on the bus, getting off the bus, ordering lunch, eating lunch, taking a nap, getting on the bus again, getting off the bus again, and entering the Nanotechnology Research Center.

“Alright, I came as fast as I could,” China explained.

“I need you to unshrink me!”

“Oh, that’s easy. I used to be a nanoscientist in a past life, until the horrible accident that permanently disfigured my face!” There were sounds of various buttons being pressed.

“Alright, Juice Truck, I’m on my way!”

There was a flash of blue, and then China appeared next to Juice Truck.

“I shrank myself down to help you!”

“You idiot,” Juice Truck bellowed.

“Relax. All we need to do is reach the Rescale Point.” China pointed at a blindingly bright column of light in the distance. Juice Truck was surprised he hadn’t noticed it earlier.

Juice Truck stretched his arm out, but the light was much too far away. “I can’t reach it.”

“Perhaps if we had some sort of vehicle.”

Juice Truck snapped his fingers. “The Nano-Juice Truck-mobile!” Juice Truck stepped aside to reveal a contraption he had put together while waiting for China. The Nano-Juice Truck-mobile was either 3 or 4 nanometers wide, and consisted of 3 rods in an H shape, with a sphere on each end.

“Perfect!” China exclaimed.

The two straddled the central rod of the Nano-Juice Truck-mobile and drove towards the light, despite it lacking a steering wheel, a power source, or really anything else. They made great time, arriving in just a few hours at the column of light.

“Well, now what?” Juice Truck asked, carefully parking the Nano-Juice Truck-mobile.

“Just, jump in, I guess,” China explained in detail.

“Alright.” Juice Truck leapt into the pillar, with China following soon behind. There was another flash of light as the two began returning to their normal size.

“China, I just had a thought,” Juice Truck announced as they scaled up.

“What is it?”

“What if this is like in that movie, and we end up merging into each other?”

“Hmm.” China paused to think. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

“Me too.”

They were both silent as the machine continued resizing them. It dinged like a microwave when it finished. The two stumbled out.

“Do you feel like you’ve merged into me?” Juice Truck asked.

“Can’t say I do.” China inspected his various appendages, only to find that they were all still firmly attached to his body.

“Great. Now, we just need to stop Dr. O’Kelly and get back the Nano!” Juice Truck shook his fist at no one in particular.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I think I have a plan.” He leaned in close to Juice Truck and began whispering in an exaggerated manner. Despite not understanding a word of the plan, Juice Truck gave a thumbs up.

 

Darkness had fallen over the city. Dr. O’Kelly was creeping down an alleyway, clutching the Nano briefcase close. Finally, he spotted his target - an unmarked car with its headlights on. He approached, and knocked on the window. It rolled down just a crack.

“Hey, uh, you got the Nano?” asked the driver.

“Of course,” Dr. O’Kelly replied. “Have you got the money?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s right here.” 23 dollar bills came through the window. They had to be sent through one at a time, since the window was just barely open. Dr. O’Kelly carefully counted the sum.

“Excellent. Here’s the Nano.” He began shoving the briefcase through the window.

“Not so fast!” someone growled. Dr. O’Kelly spun around to see Juice Truck illuminated by the car’s headlights.

“You! How did you escape!” Dr. O’Kelly shook his head. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already got what I came here for.” He ruffled through the stack of cash.

“So did we.” As if on cue, the Nano briefcase pulled itself the rest of the way through the window. Then the window rolled down further, revealing that China was the driver. He waved and began to drive off.

“No!” Dr. O’Kelly shouted. “No one bests Dr. O’Kelly!” He pulled out something from his pocket shaped like a gun, and fired it at the car. The car and its contents immediately shrank down to half their size.

“Juice Truck! Help me!” China’s voice from inside the car was comically high-pitched.

Juice Truck had to think fast. Dr. O’Kelly was waving the shrink ray around and shooting things at random. Juice Truck raised his gun, took aim, and fired. Bullseye.

The bullet hit the stack of cash in Dr. O’Kelly’s hand, sending the bills flying out of his grasp and onto the street. Dr. O’Kelly immediately dropped the shrink ray and began scooping up the money as quickly as he could. While he was distracted, Juice Truck swooped in and snatched the shrink ray. He took aim as Dr. O’Kelly finished collecting the cash.

“Well, O’Kelly,” Juice Truck muttered. “It’s a small world.”

He flung the shrink ray at Dr. O’Kelly, hitting him square in the head and knocking him out instantly.

“You did it!” squealed China. “Now hand over the shrink ray, I can fix this.”

Juice Truck passed the device through the window of the small car. China tinkered with it and, after a few seconds, was back at his normal size. While he was waiting, Juice Truck called up the police, who came and took the unconscious Dr. O’Kelly away.

“It’s like they say,” Juice Truck laughed. “When things get small, things get weird.”

China laughed with him, then stopped abruptly and frowned. “Juice Truck, no one says that.”


End file.
